


The Syndullas

by PrincessAmonRae



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-07 01:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12222903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmonRae/pseuds/PrincessAmonRae
Summary: When Kanan and Hera discover they can't have children they talk about their options. And slowly after that, they piece together their family.





	1. The Syndullas

When Kanan and Hera discover they can’t have children they talk about their options. Hera suggests surrogacy and Kanan vetoes that instantly. 

“It’s practically cheating,” He states and Hera rolls her eyes at him. 

“It’s not cheating,” Hera replies. Kanan glowers in response. 

“My boys do not belong anywhere near another woman,” Kanan announces with finality before continuing, “Besides there’s plenty of kids out there who need a family.” 

“Alright fine,” Hera agrees after she thinks about it for a few minutes, “But I want a baby first.” 

And so the next thing they know Hera and Kanan are handed a squirming three month old Eugene Syndullla. He’s got a tuft of ginger hair on the top of his head and looks a bit like a little old man. 

“Why my last name?” Hera asks, even though they agreed ages ago. Kanan shrugs, leaning over Hera’s shoulder to look at Eugene. 

“It’s cooler than mine,” He replies and Hera feels her heart melt the instant Eugene opens his dark eyes and waves his arms around in a karate chop motion. 

“Hey Chopper,” Kanan whispers around the happy tears forming in his throat. 

XXXXX 

Its three years after that that they decide the house is still a little too empty and they should adopt again. 

“Chopper would you like to have a brother or sister?” Hera asks as she and Kanan lounge on the couch watching Chopper play. Chopper sits on his heels and thinks about it. 

“Beep beep boop.” Chopper answers and waves his arms around before going back to his toys. Hera and Kanan have learned to interpret his robotic noises because some days he doesn’t like English. They aren’t sure if it’s just because he’s into robots right now or something more. 

“Well that settles that. Not another baby though,” Kanan says and runs a hand over his face. Hera laughs in response. 

“What the sleepless nights weren’t worth it?” She teases and Kanan chuckles, eyes softening as he glances at Chopper. 

“Totally worth it. But I think we should give an older kid a chance.” Hera smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek. 

“Great minds think alike.” She whispers softly. 

So nine year old Zebadiah Orrelios joins them. The social worker, Ashoka Tano, warns them that he is grumpy and moody, but Hera and Kanan simply tell him that he can be as grumpy as he wants, so long as he isn’t rude to them or mean to Chopper. 

“Call you Zeb,” Chopper announces as soon as they climb in the car. Kanan opens his mouth to tell Chopper that Zebadiah might not like that before Zeb answers. 

“Okay,” Zeb states, makes eye contact with the adults in the rear view mirror and gives them a small smile, “That’d be great.” 

XXXXX 

“Can I ask you two favours?” Zeb asks Hera and Kanan out of the blue at supper a year and a bit later. They share a glance before looking back at him. 

“Anything within reason,” Kanan replies. 

“Can I take your last name too?” Zeb asks. Hera and Kanan both pause. 

“Of course you can. But why now?” Hera answers. They’d let Zeb keep his name, because it didn’t make sense to force a new name on him. 

“Zeb brother. Zeb brother different name.” Chopper announces and the adults clue in. 

“I’d like it if when people looked at my name they’d know that I’m part of this family too.” Zeb explains and Hera’s eye get a little glassy and Kanan has to very abruptly look up at the ceiling for a few moments. 

“Okay. What’s the second favour?” Kanan requests in a shaky voice. 

“Chopper and I were thinking that maybe we could have another sibling.” Zeb says and Chopper nods. 

“Older than Chopper, younger than Zeb.” Chopper adds. Hera and Kanan smile at each other. 

“We’ll talk about it. Now you two can clear the table.” Hera announces before she drags Kanan out into the hallway. 

“What do you think?” Hera asks first because she knows that she’s been thinking of bringing this up for a while now. Kanan rubs the back of his head. 

“We do have that extra bedroom.” Kanan states and Hera smiles, which pretty much settles it. 

Seven year old Sabine Wren is a mop of black hair and a very skeptic glance when they meet her. She takes Syndulla as her new last name without a word and makes Kanan laugh because seventy five percent of her belongings are crayons. Sabine clicks with Chopper the instant they meet, warms up to Zeb within five minutes, but seems as if she’d going to hold onto her hesitancy concerning Hera and Kanan for a while longer. They don’t particularly mind because they can already tell that she’s going to be a perfect fit. 

XXXXXX 

It’s a year after that when Ashoka asks Kanan and Hera if they would mind fostering Ezra Bridger for a little while. Ezra’s parents have gone missing and while the police are still looking, he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. 

“I don’t see why he has to share my room,” Zeb grumbles that night when everyone is going to bed. Ezra mumbles something into his pillow while Hera smooths down Zeb’s hair. 

“You have a bunk bed that’s why. Don’t worry it’s only for a little while. Just think of it as an extended sleepover,” Hera soothes gently as Chopper walks in, dragging his pillow behind him. 

“Sleepover me too, beep boop?” He requests and Zeb pushes himself up on his elbow. 

“Have you gone to the bathroom yet, bud?” Zeb asks. 

“Boop beep,” Chopper replies with an arm wave and heads out the door. Sabine leans against the door frame, toothbrush in hand. 

“He’s weird,” Ezra announces and Hera looks up at him. 

“What of it?” Sabine and Zeb demand harshly before Hera can say anything. 

“I like weird,” Ezra finishes his train of thought and blushes when Zeb punches the bottom of the bed. 

“You’ve come to the right place then,” Zeb states while Kanan wanders with Chopper. 

“Quit punching the furniture,” Kanan orders and Zeb grins while helping Chopper onto the bed. 

“Aw Dad you’re no fun,” Zeb fake groans. Hera smiles but shakes her head. 

“Alright it’s time for bed,” She says, pointing to Sabine, who sighs and heads for the bathroom. Hera moves to stand next to Kanan in the doorway. He wraps his arm around her waist as she looks back at the boys, “I mean it.” 

The days that Ezra’s parents are missing continue to climb until they drag into weeks and with every day that passes Ezra gets more and more like Zeb was when he first came. Hera feels constantly like she wants to cry, both because she doesn’t know what to do to help him and because she knows he won’t cry for himself. Ezra’s predicament is reminding Zeb and Sabine of whatever they went through so, Kanan starts taking the kids out for hours to teach them to play baseball so that they can all blow off some steam. 

“Ezra,” Hera starts hesitantly that night. He curls himself up on the couch and presses his eyes into his knees. 

“The police have stopped looking,” He states and even though he can’t see her, Hera nods. She scoots next to him and wraps her arms around him as he starts crying. 

“Do they want to take me away?” He asks. Hera swallows, desperately trying to speak around the lump in her throat. 

“You can stay here if you’d like,” Kanan says as he sits on Ezra’s other side and hugs both of them. Ezra’s head rises a bit. 

“Can I?” He clarifies and they both nod. 

So seven year old Ezra Bridger rounds out their little ragtag family and fills in a hole that no one had even realized that they had.


	2. Chopper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snapshots of Chopper's life that are important.

Chopper is three and a half months old when Hera and Kanan discover that the parenting books they got are useless. Sure it’s handy to be reassured that the fact they are nervous is okay, but it’d be damn fantastic if it had some other information in there. Like the actual numerical temperature a baby’s bottle is supposed to be, rather than the vague “warm”. Or a tad bit more information about all things diapers. (Hera masters them first.) 

“Stinky?” Hera asks as Kanan slides back into bed after putting Chopper back to sleep. 

“Mhm,” He replies because it’s two in the morning and neither of them can remember what a full night of sleep feels like. 

“Where does he store it all?” Kanan questions into the dark a few moments later and Hera giggles. 

“He’s three months old, how does such a little guy make so much?” He gestures his arms around vaguely. Hera leans her head on Kanan’s chest and weeps because she’s laughing, a slightly hysterical laugh that betrays how sleep deprived. 

“I love him though. God I love him,” Kanan says, feeling as if his heart’s going to burst just thinking about it. Hera looks up at him and thinks that she’s never loved Kanan more than in this moment. 

“I do too,” She whispers, twining her fingers with his. “And you.” Kanan’s eyes soften instantly and he kisses the back of her hand. 

XXXXX 

Chopper is seven months old the first time he sleeps through the night, although neither Hera nor Kanan clue into this until Kanan wakes up to the sunshine on his face. He blinks a few times before he panics, firing out of bed and hurling himself down the hallway. When Kanan scoops up Chopper the latter immediately wakes up, begins wailing and waving his arms in abandon. 

“Kanan?” Hera mumbles from the doorway, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He gives her a sheepish smile. 

“He slept through the night and he’s never done that before and I panicked,” Kanan explains and leans over so he can rest his forehead on Chopper’s. Hera wanders over and grabs one of Chopper’s hands. 

“Sorry bud. Apparently your father forgot everything he read in those books,” Hera soothes and Chopper’s free hand karate chops Kanan right in the eye. Hera laughs as Kanan rears back. 

“I deserved that.” He states and Hera laughs harder. 

XXXXX 

Chopper is five years old and into his second month of kindergarten when the principal suggests they take him to a specialist when they are picking the kids up from school. 

“We all thought that he was just very shy. But he hardly associates with the other children and today he would only communicate in noises,” Ms. Tua announces and Hera looks down at Chopper. They’re all so used to Chopper’s quirkiness that she forgets that it’s different. (She will not say the words ‘not normal’.) 

“Just having one of those days, hey bud?” Hera asks. 

“Beep beep,” Chopper confirms with a few arm waves. Hera turns back to Ms. Tua and swallows carefully. 

“Do you have any suggestions?” She requests as steadily as she can manage. Ms. Tua gives her a sympathetic smile and hands her a business card. Hera gives it to Kanan on the way home, holds Chopper’s hand and watches the older three race each other home while Kanan puts the pieces together. 

“Tried,” Chopper announces out of nowhere, making Hera and Kanan stop to look down at him. 

“Tried to be normal. They’ll take me away if not normal,” Chopper explains. Hera drops next to him and wraps her arms around him, holding him tightly against herself. 

“They won’t take you away. Not now not ever. Never ever,” Hera whispers as Kanan wraps both of them in a hug as well. 

“Never,” Kanan echoes in a tone that brokers no argument. 

Sabine, Zeb and Ezra quickly dub the specialist ‘The Inquisitor’ because his name is too complicated for them to say and he asks a lot of questions. After a few appointments The Inquisitor determines that Chopper doesn’t have autism or Asperger’s specifically but he is on the spectrum. When Hera and Kanan tell the kids at dinner, Hera bites her lip in worry. 

“Not normal,” Chopper says first before beeping dejectedly. Sabine’s face gets sharp. 

“Good,” She states bluntly and Chopper looks up at her hesitantly before she continues, “I’ve got two normal brothers. I don’t need another one.” 

“Yeah,” Zeb and Ezra echo before the kids give each other a group hug. 

XXXXX 

Chopper is ten when he asks Sabine for a very big favour. 

“I’ll describe feelings and you tell me what they are,” Chopper requests and Sabine blinks at him before she realizes and pats her bed. 

That first night they spend hours going back and forth, Chopper thinking of someone or something that makes him feel a certain way and Sabine tells him what he feels. Anger is the fire in his belly, sadness the lump in his throat, happiness the funny little tickle at the back of his head. 

“Warmth,” Chopper says as he looks at Sabine and makes a gesture of expansion going out from his heart. Sabine smiles at him and Chopper feels the warmth grow stronger. She wraps her arms around him and squeezes him gently. 

“That’s love Chopper,” Sabine informs him so he wraps his arms around Sabine as well. 

“Love you,” Chopper whispers and Sabine hugs him tighter as she whispers it back. 

XXXXX 

Chopper is fourteen when he gets into his first fight at school. He doesn’t exactly get along well with the other kids his age, but he never has and since he has his family he doesn’t particularly care either. But that was before he met Katia, the new girl who had just started coming to his school. Katia doesn’t care that some days he can’t make eye contact with people and she is the first person outside of his family to be able to interpret what all his beeps and boops mean. 

“Hey Chopper!” Katia announces brightly as she sits across from him in the cafeteria. He gives her a small smile and she beams at him in return. 

“Beep,” He replies. 

“I’m having a pretty good day so far. How about you?” She asks. Chopper shrugs. 

“Boop beep beep,” He answers and she opens her mouth to say something when Gabe from the next table interjects. 

“Freak,” Gabe fake coughs and Katia launches out of her seat. 

“He’s not a freak!” Katia cries and Chopper feels a wave of what Sabine has told him is affection. Gabe raises his eyebrow as his friends snigger. 

“I wasn’t talking about him. Gotta take a special kind of freak to speak robot,” Katia visibly flinches at Gabe’s words and Chopper feels rage. Before he can process what he is feeling he has thrown himself onto Gabe and begins beating the stuffing out of him. The boys begin chanting for them to fight, while Katia shouts for Chopper to stop. 

When Mr. Kallus forcibly separates the two boys, Chopper’s nose is bleeding and Gabe looks as if he has run into a brick wall. Katia sits next to Chopper in the office while they wait for Hera and Kanan to get here and she looks so sad that Chopper wipes the blood off of his hand and holds hers. 

“Jesus Christ Chopper.” Sabine stops dead in the doorway at the sight of him and immediately spins on her heel. Ezra flops into the chair on the other side of Chopper. 

“We heard that you got into a fight,” Ezra announces as Sabine returns with paper towel in hand and begins wiping his face off. Katia squeezes Chopper’s hand. 

“So did we,” Kanan states as he, Hera and Zeb file in. Katia launches up from her seat as Mr. Kallus wanders in as well. 

“Please don’t be mad at Chopper! Please! It’s all my fault!” Katia begs and everyone looks at her in confusion. 

“Chopper why did you fight that boy?” Kanan asks as he pinches the bridge of his nose while Hera rests her finger tips on her forehead and they both shake their head at the same time. 

“He’s a piece of karabast that’s why.” Chopper mutters darkly and Hera turns an arched eyebrow towards Kanan who immediately holds his hands out in a defensive gesture. 

“I didn’t teach him that!” He sputters and Ezra coughs to cover his laughter. 

“Well then who did?” She requests dangerously. 

“Zeb,” Sabine answers in an attempt to save Kanan. Zeb makes cut off motions in front of his throat as Hera’s other eyebrow rises up as well. 

“Zebadiah Syndulla,” Hera warns just as Mr. Kallus clears his throat pointedly and looks at Chopper, who is now blood free and has made Katia sit down next to him again. 

“We were talking and I thought Gabe called Chopper a freak, but he was actually talking about me. That’s when Chopper started hitting him,” Katia explains softly and Kanan’s hands form fists. 

“You should have punched him harder Chop,” Zeb says and immediately takes a few steps backwards when Hera turns her glare on him again. 

“Mr. Syndulla has detention this evening. Gabe has been suspended for the duration of this week,” Mr. Kallus announces before ordering the various Syndullas to go to class before they miss something. Zeb subtly high fives Chopper as he leaves while Hera and Kanan tell him that they will be discussing this when he gets home. 

“You didn’t have to fight him,” Katia says softly as they walk to their English class. Chopper stops her and shakes his head. She won’t look at him so he does something drastic, he reaches out and lifts her chin with his fingers so that he can make eye contact. 

“It’s what best friends do,” He states and smiles at her, feeling a funny new feeling that he’s going to have to ask Sabine about, when she smiles back. 

XXXXX 

Chopper is seventeen when he realizes that he has fallen in love with Katia. He just can’t pinpoint the when, which doesn’t make any sense to him. 

“Dad, when did you fall in love with Mom?” Chopper asks and Kanan strokes his little beard in thought. 

“Hell if I know. I can tell you when I realized,” Kanan answers after a few moments. Chopper frowned because that answer was not helpful. 

“How can you not know?” Chopper questions. 

“Sometimes when you love someone you know in an instant. Like with you, I loved you the moment I saw you. But with your Mom it was slow, I fell in love with her in little baby steps and didn’t realize it until I was head over heels for her,” Kanan explains and Chopper nods, thinking of the little things that he liked best about Katia. 

“Prom?” He asks Katia at lunch the next day and she looks at him in confusion while he blushes because he hadn’t intended it to come out like that at all. 

“What about prom?” She clarifies. Chopper’s nerves get the better of him and he lets out a long string of robotic noises which only makes him blush harder. Katia gets a little crinkle in her nose as she deciphers what he means. 

“You want to go to prom with me, but not as friends?” Chopper nods in relief and Katia grins. 

“That would be utterly fantastic,” She states before leaning forward and kissing his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why the Autistic/Asperger's spectrum? Two reasons; firstly it was a way for me to keep a bit of Chopper's robotic canon in the story by allowing him to be able to speak robot as it were. Secondly, I really wanted the scene where Sabine says she has two "normal" brothers.  
> That being said I did almost no research into this (which was dumb) so if there are some blatantly wrong things, please tell me and I will gladly fix it.


	3. Zeb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snapshots of important moments in Zeb's life.

Zeb is ten years old when he decides that there has to be no better time to show his appreciation for the fact that he has a loving home here. So when Kanan takes Chopper to wash him off after supper he sneaks up behind Hera at the sink and wraps his arms around her. 

“I love you Mom,” he announces and runs for it before Hera can turn around. He finds Kanan in the bathroom supervising while Chopper washes his hands. Zeb tosses his arms around Kanan before he buries his face in Kanan’s midsection. 

“What’s up Zeb?” Kanan asks after he gets his balance back. 

“I love you Dad.” It comes out a little muffled because he’s too embarrassed to actually look at Kanan while he says it. But he smiles brightly at the little choking noise that Kanan makes as he hugs him in return and the sound of Hera coming in to the bathroom and getting sandwiched between the two of them. 

“We love you too Zeb,” Hera manages to inform him between her sobs and Zeb panics for a few seconds before he realizes that Hera is crying happy tears. 

“Wrong?” Chopper asks worriedly from the sink and Kanan laughs slightly. 

“Nothing’s wrong bud,” Zeb states while trying to fight the embarrassed blush from rising. Chopper frowns at this and reaches out to touch Hera’s cheek. 

“Cry,” Chopper replies and Kanan swings him up in his arms which elicits a thrilled shriek. 

“We aren’t sad, we’re crying because we’re happy,” Kanan explains as Chopper’s head comes to rest on his shoulder. Chopper frowns again. 

“Weird,” He mutters and everyone laughs. 

“That’s the best part,” Zeb replies. 

XXXXX 

Zeb is eleven years old when he gets into his first fight at school and he maintains the fact that it was not his fault. It happened during recess when he heard one of the older boys making fun of Sabine’s recently dyed hair. 

“Zebadiah Syndulla what on Earth were you thinking?” Hera cries when she shows up at the school with Chopper toddling along behind her. Sabine runs up to her and throws her arms around her. 

“He was making fun of Sabine. Nobody gets to make fun of Sabine,” Zeb answers and winces when he moves his arm. He thinks it might be broken. 

“Win?” Chopper asks brightly. 

“I didn’t win, but I definitely held my own,” Zeb replies, giving Chopper a high five and Hera makes an aggravated noise. Zeb immediately looks down at his lap so that he doesn’t make it worse. 

“You are in so much trouble,” Hera grits out and Zeb nods. Hera immediately softens and kisses his forehead. 

“For fighting. Not for defending your sister,” she clarifies before giving him a gentle hug as Ms. Tua comes out of her office. Hera gives him another kiss before walking towards Ms. Tua. Chopper and Sabine have sat on the floor and begun a complicated arm waving competition when Sabine speaks up. 

“If your arm is broken can I draw on your cast?” she asks and Zeb beams down at her. 

“Who else is going to give me the coolest cast ever known to man?” Zeb requests. Sabine squeals with delight and climbs up on his lap to hug him. Chopper follows behind her. 

“Swirly thing there,” Chopper suggests and pokes Zeb’s elbow gently. Sabine frowns slightly and nibbles her lip as she studies Zeb’s arm before she nods. 

“Swirly thing there,” She agrees and starts tracing little designs on his lower arm with her fingertip. 

True to Sabine’s words there is a lovely swirly thing on the part of the cast that covers his elbow and gives him the coolest cast that anyone has ever seen for his first broken bone. 

XXXXX 

Zeb is fourteen years old when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, and makes two best friends in one fell swoop, while they are both picking up their younger siblings from school. 

“You go to my school right?” Obi-Wan asks and Zeb nods jerkily. He has just started high school and hasn’t really made any friends yet. His reputation for having a bit of a temper preceded him slightly. 

“I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi. Nice to meet you,” Obi-Wan announces and holds out his hand for Zeb to shake. 

“Zebadiah Syndulla,” Zeb returns the handshake before jerking his head at the door. “Who you here for?” 

“I’m picking up my brother Anakin. You?” Obi-Wan points to the door for the first grade classroom. 

“My sister and two brothers,” Zeb states and flicks his fingers at three different doors. Obi-Wan gives him a curious look and Zeb shifts uncomfortably. 

“My Dad’s heard about your family. You know how things get passed around in the foster family grapevine.” At Obi-Wan’s words Zeb’s uncomfortable feeling melts away. It’s easier talking about the adopted thing with someone who understands. 

“Yeah I get it. How many in your family?” Zeb asks and Obi-Wan smiles. 

“Xanatos, Anakin, Dad, and I. Xan’s older than me, he’s a senior this year, and Anakin just turned six,” Obi-Wan explains before he bends over to start digging in his bag. 

“My parents, Sabine, Ezra and Chopper. Chopper’s the youngest but Ezra’s the newest,” Zeb replies as Obi-Wan’s head pops up and he holds out his schedule to Zeb. 

“Any similar classes?” Obi-Wan questions and Zeb points to a couple that they share. 

“Great. Want to sit with us tomorrow?” Zeb smiles and nods before he frowns slightly. 

“Us?” He clarifies, feeling the worry creeping into his voice. 

“Don’t worry it’s just Satine. You’ll like her.” Obi-Wan soothes as the school bell rings and all the kids come pouring out of their classrooms. 

Zeb does like Satine when he meets her in the first class the following morning. She is an only child who is neither adopted nor a foster child, but is the first person he’s met who actually asked if it will bother him if she complains about her parents. (He doesn’t but the fact that she thought of it touches him.) 

XXXXX 

Zeb is seventeen years old when he convinces his two best friends, who are so clearly in love and have been for years, to make a move on each other. 

“I don’t want to go too far away. Stay close to the family you know?” Zeb states and rubs the back of his neck. Obi-Wan nods in understanding so Satine separates the very large pile of brochures for different colleges and universities into out of state and not. 

“Do you know what you’re doing Satine?” Obi-Wan asks and Satine nods. 

“I’d like to major in political studies and minor in psychology,” Satine says while lifting a few of the brochures to study them a little more. Obi-Wan and Zeb share a confused look before turning to frown at her. The political studies isn’t a shock, but they both have no idea where the psychology came from. 

“Psychology?” Obi-Wan clarifies and Satine nods briskly. 

“I’ve realized over the years that people need to help kids in the foster system more. And I think that I might have the ability to help them,” Satine explains, for once looking slightly uncertain about herself. 

“You do have the ability Satine. You’ve been helping me for the past seven years,” Obi-Wan announces and the two of them start giving each other ‘heart eyes’. Zeb barely reigns in the urge to groan. 

“Would you two just kiss already?” Zeb requests with an eye roll and snorts at the way they jump and tear their gaze away from each other. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Obi-Wan mutters as if his face hasn’t turned bright pink. Zeb borrows the disbelieving look that his mother bestows on him so frequently and turns it on to the two of them. Satine slowly snakes her hand over top of Obi-Wan’s and Zeb excuses himself to get snacks while the two of them sorted out their relationship. 

“Hello Zeb, have you come for snacks?” Qui-Gon requests as Zeb clambers into the kitchen. 

“Excuse to give the two love birds time to admit their feelings,” Zeb answers and Qui-Gon looks up at the roof with fondness in his eyes. 

“It’s about time,” he says and Zeb laughs in agreement. A few moments later Obi-Wan and Satine come downstairs to see where he is with the snacks and Qui-Gon smiles at their entwined hands. 

“I trust I don’t need to lecture you on safe sex,” Qui-Gon states. 

“Dad!” Obi-Wan cries in embarrassment as Satine blushes and Zeb spews his water all over the counter. Qui-Gon looks completely unrepentant. 

“I’m all for free love, but with responsibility in mind.” Qui-Gon reminds them and when the three of them leave, Obi-Wan finds two condoms tucked into his back pocket, Satine finds four in her shoes and Zeb finds three in his backpack. 

“I’m unattached!” He protests and Qui-Gon smiles. 

“I didn’t want you to feel left out,” Qui-Gon explains. 

XXXXX 

Zeb is twenty one when he decides what he wants to do with his life and springs it on his family by showing up to dinner in his new army uniform. 

“Are you going to a costume party?” Ezra asks and Zeb shakes his head. Sabine and Chopper both tilt their heads in opposite directions to get a look at him. Hera and Kanan are both frowning at him intently. 

“I’ve enlisted,” Zeb blurts out, he’d never been very good at keeping secrets from his family, and Hera sets the dishes down on the table a little harder than necessary in shock. Kanan drops the cutlery and the sound of it scattering across the floor is the only sound in the kitchen for a while. 

“The army?” Sabine manages to get out and Zeb nods. 

“Cool,” Ezra states and Hera makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat. Zeb’s shoulders curl in slightly. 

“Why?” Kanan questions as Chopper gets down on the floor and starts picking up the cutlery. Zeb takes a deep breath and swallows. 

“I want to help people,” Zeb explains. 

“And you think the army will give you that?” Hera squeaks and Zeb nods. 

“I’ll mostly be working as an aid supplier,” He adds and immediately sees the tension ease out of Hera and Kanan’s shoulders. They’d done relief aid runs past blockades and other such things before they’d settled down. 

“Zeb helping,” Chopper supplies helpfully as he appears with a handful of forks. 

“I probably won’t even leave the States for a year or two,” Zeb offers. Kanan and Hera share a long look before they turn back to him. 

“You’re an adult so it’s not like we can tell you what to do,” Kanan starts. 

“But you are going to call us every single week, regardless of where you are,” Hera finishes and Zeb smiles. 

“Well I’m not even sure I can go that long without seeing all of your ugly faces,” Zeb teases and everyone laughs. 

XXXXX 

Zeb is twenty four when he knows that he is going to die and that it is not going to be quick. 

“I’m going to die,” he breathes solemnly and his commanding officer, Captain Rex, claps him on the back in support. 

“I’ve met your mother so, probably,” Rex agrees and Sarafine rolls her eyes at both of them. 

“You two are absolutely silly. My parents didn’t have a problem with this,” She replies. Zeb gives her a tight smile. 

“Your parents were there,” He says flatly as they reach the door. He almost knocks, but thinks better of it at the last second. According to Sabine and Ezra, Hera and Kanan haven’t reacted well to knocks on the door since Zeb shipped out. So he pushes the door open and leads Sarafine and Rex into the living room. All of his family fall silent in shock when he walks in. He rubs the back of his neck and realizes this surprise might not go over so well on two fronts. 

“Hey guys,” Zeb states before everyone leaps out of their seating positions and is clamoring around him. Hera and Sabine are squealing, Ezra and Chopper are calling him things that shouldn’t be said in polite company, and Katia is still sitting on the couch crying, but it is Kanan’s response that floors Zeb. 

“Thank God,” Kanan breathes before he wraps his shaky arms around Zeb and hugs him tightly. Zeb chuckles slightly, hugs Kanan back before gently pushing him away and gesturing for Sarafine to come stand next to him. She slides in under his arm and wraps her arm around his waist. 

“Well that’s surprise one out of the way. Guys I want you to meet Sarafine Syndulla,” Zeb introduces and Sarafine smiles at him before nodding at his family who have gone stock still in shock. 

“Sarafine Syndulla!” Hera shrieks as she gets over her astonishment and Zeb winces. Sarafine suddenly looks very sympathetic. 

“Yeah,” Zeb replies. Katia climbs up off the couch and gently leads Sarafine to sit beside her. Zeb makes a mental note to hug her in thanks. 

“When did this happen?” Kanan requests and Rex steps forward. 

“About a month ago. Zeb and Sarafine had been seeing each other every time we went through there on aid missions,” Zeb makes cut off motions in front of his throat as Sabine angles towards him. 

“You’ve been seeing someone and you never told me!” Sabine cries and shoves at him with her elbow. Chopper stabs him in the gut with his finger while Ezra whaps him on the shoulder. Sarafine laughs from the sofa. 

“Zeb and I kept it a secret from everyone except for Captain Rex and my mother, which is why we had to get married so suddenly, my father found out that we’d been seeing each other,” Sarafine says and Zeb smiles at her softly. 

“But I was already going to ask her to marry me, so it all worked out,” Zeb adds and Kanan breaks the silence by groaning loudly. 

“My son survives a war zone only to die at home in our living room because he got married without his mother there,” Kanan mutters to the ceiling. Everyone laughs except for Hera who is looking between Zeb and Sarafine. 

“Does she make you happy Zeb?” Hera asks and Zeb takes a few steps towards her to hug her. 

“As happy as this family ever has,” Zeb answers. Hera hugs him back tightly. 

“You still aren’t forgiven,” Hera mutters and Zeb laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why have I included prequel characters in a Rebels AU? Because I'm the author I can do what I want. I'm also very lazy and didn't want to come up with original characters.


	4. Sabine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine's snapshots.

Sabine is eight years old when she asks Hera if she can dye her hair. She has decided that her black hair is boring, especially since there are so many other better colours. And her hair makes her look like her birth mother and she doesn’t like that at all. 

“I don’t see why not. What colour were you thinking about?” Hera asks and brushes Sabine’s bangs out of her eyes. Sabine eyes her carefully. 

“What colour can I get?” She replies cautiously. Hera gives her another smile and reminds herself that Sabine will let go of her nervousness eventually. 

“Any colour,” Hera says. Sabine brightens. 

“Really?” Sabine clarifies excitedly. 

“Really,” Hera confirms and Sabine bites her lip as she thinks about it. 

“Purple,” She determines after a few minutes. 

“Purple it is,” Hera agrees and calls her hair dresser, since Hera doesn’t trust her ability to dye Sabine’s hair without either destroying her hair or getting the colour all wrong. When they come home from the appointment just in time for supper, Sabine keeps her hat on to keep the surprise going. 

“Sabine hat,” Chopper states and Zeb nods with a calculating look in his eyes. 

“Why are you wearing a hat Sabine?” Kanan asks. Sabine looks at Hera and waits until she has nodded before she pulls off her hat and her purple hair flops out. 

“Surprise!” She cries. Kanan blinks at her in shock as Chopper and Zeb both reach over and give it a little tug to make sure that it isn’t a wig. 

“Grape,” Chopper announces. 

“It does look a bit like a grape. But I like it,” Zeb agrees. 

“Pretty,” Chopper concurs and strokes it gently. Sabine brightens before looking at Kanan who still hasn’t said anything. 

“Yeah Chopper, your sister is the prettiest girl in the world,” Kanan states and Sabine blushes. 

XXXX 

Sabine is thirteen when she shoves all of her belongings into the hallway and spends a Saturday painting her room in a complicated design that doesn’t make sense to anyone else. 

“Couldn’t handle the white walls anymore?” Zeb asks when he opens her door so that she doesn’t pass out from paint fumes. 

“Pretty much. Come here for a second,” she requests. Zeb clambers into the room and Sabine slaps his hand on the wall and paints around it carefully. 

“Open a window,” Zeb orders as he leaves and Sabine sticks her tongue out at him. 

“I’m wearing a mask,” she replies. 

“Furniture!” Chopper cries when he comes out of his room and he wanders into Sabine’s room before pointing at the walls and saying, “Paint!” 

“Yeah I’m painting and I need your help,” Sabine says and hands him a paint brush before leading him to a small portion of the wall that she’s saved for him. 

“Swirly thing there,” She orders and waits until he’s finished before lifting him up and putting his hand on the wall next to Zeb’s and doing the same thing to his hand. Ezra’s eyes bug out when he takes in the new walls when he stumbles in a few hours later. 

“Did you warn Kanan and Hera?” He asks as he tries to take it all in. 

“I asked them if I could paint it and they said yes,” Sabine states and drags him towards the wall. 

“Hold still,” She orders and releases him after she has traced his hand. He checks it carefully for paint before scuttling out of the room. She paints her hand last and while she waits for the last bit of the paint to dry so that she can push her furniture back in her room, she organizes a baseball game with her siblings and cousins. 

“I like it very much Sabine,” Qui-Gon says when everyone comes back to see it. Sabine smiles before lifting up her paint. 

“Thanks Uncle Qui, but I’m not quite done yet,” Sabine announces and adds Qui-Gon, Xan, Obi-Wan and Anakin’s hands next to her siblings. When Kanan and Hera get home she blindfolds them before leading them into her room and repeating the process with their hands. 

“Why do you need our hands for your wall?” Kanan asks as Sabine quickly adds the word family underneath all the handprints. She reaches out and pulls the blindfolds off of them. 

“Because I made a mural,” Sabine explains and shows them her new wall, the different shades of oranges, reds, yellows and purples all swirl around the handprints in the middle in a way that it looks vaguely like an explosion. Hera traces the swirls with her eyes and smiles. 

“It’s perfect,” She whispers and Sabine flushes in a mixture of embarrassment and pride. 

XXXXX 

Sabine is fifteen when she comes out with the last of her secrets. She and her boyfriend are arguing and Tom says something that really pisses her off. 

“Get out,” She orders and Tom frowns at her. 

“Come on Sabine. Don’t be like that it was just an idea,” He pouts and her temper flares more. 

“I want you to leave,” Sabine repeats harshly. 

“I just thought we could solve your issues,” he mutters under his breath and Sabine sees red. 

“Just because I don’t want to sleep with you doesn’t mean I have issues!” With her words she throws some of her old paint brushes at his face. Tom finally gains a clue and makes a run for the door all the while being followed by Sabine who is still throwing old paint brushes. 

“We are done,” She announces harshly and throws some paint on him for good measure after he goes sprawling on the front lawn. Kanan, Zeb and Ezra appear out of the car and loom over him dangerously. 

“Problem here?” Kanan drawls as Zeb crosses his beefy arms. Sabine tries not to laugh as Tom shakes his head manically and as she notes that Ezra looks like a twig when he stands next to Kanan and Zeb. 

“There’s no problem anymore,” Sabine states and Zeb grunts and gestures for Tom to get a move on. Chopper appears at the end of the driveway. 

“Sabine cry,” Chopper announces and before Sabine can tell him that she’s crying because she’s angry, Chopper has shocked Tom with a very small cattle prod. 

“Chopper give me that!” Hera cries as she comes from around the house. He hands it over after he switches it off. 

“Where did you get this?” She requests and Chopper smiles at her. 

“Garage,” He says proudly. Hera shifts her gaze to Kanan, who immediately throws his hands up in the air. 

“Why do you always think it’s me!?” He questions and Ezra laughs before Hera orders everyone inside and squeezes Sabine’s hand as she passes. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kanan asks after everyone else has gone into the house. Sabine nods and points at the roof. 

“Meet you there,” Kanan says. Sabine waits for him on the roof that’s just above her window and he appears a few minutes later with tea and cookies in hand. 

“He was obsessed with me trying to find my birth mother,” Sabine says after she has eaten three cookies. Kanan leans back on his hands. 

“Do you want to try to find her?” He questions and Sabine hides her smile at Kanan’s relief when she shakes her head. 

“I don’t really like boys,” She announces a few cookies later. Kanan smiles at her. 

“That’s good,” He states and winks at her. Sabine laughs and pushes on his shoulder. 

“I mean that I’m Bi. With a prevalence towards girls,” She explains and Kanan wraps his arms around her. 

“So why Tom?” He asks and Sabine bites her lip while looking down at her lap in shame. 

“I was worried about how you and Mom would react,” She admits quietly. Kanan leans forward and kisses the top of her head. 

“If you’re happy we’re happy,” Kanan announces and hugs Sabine tighter. 

“Besides this way I don’t have to kill any boys if they get you pregnant,” he adds and Sabine spews her tea across the roof as she laughs. 

XXXXXX 

Sabine is eighteen when she decides what she wants to do with her life and jumps back into the dating game. 

“I’m going to do art therapy,” Sabine informs the school’s academic advisor, who had insisted Sabine call her Bonnie, who purses her lips at her. 

“Art therapy,” Bonnie repeats and Sabine nods sharply already drawing herself up in defiance. 

“Are your parents aware of your chosen career path?” Bonnie asks. Sabine reminds herself at the very last second that she promised Hera and Kanan that she wouldn’t lose her temper when this question inevitably came up. 

“They support my decision fully. Just like they support my brother’s decision to join the army,” Sabine states and stomps down on the heart ache that fills her. Zeb had only gone to boot camp a month ago and the whole family already missed him terribly, even if he was keeping his promise to call them every week. She was really hoping that Ezra wouldn’t do the same thing, because she wasn’t sure she could handle having two brothers in the army. 

“The army is respectable,” Bonnie starts. 

“So is art therapy!” A mysterious feminine voice replied from the hallway. Bonnie frowned while getting up and throwing the door to her office open. An African American girl waves at her from where she is leaning against the wall. 

“Miss Onyo it is very rude to listen in on a private conversation,” Bonnie chastises and Ketsu Onyo shrugs. 

“Well I couldn’t just let you make it out that art therapy isn’t respectable now could I?” Ketsu cranes her neck around Bonnie and winks at Sabine. Sabine, to her complete and utter shock, blushes before smiling back. Ketsu ducks around Bonnie and steps up to Sabine with her hand extended. 

“Ketsu Onyo.” Sabine takes her hand and shakes it back. 

“Sabine Syndulla,” She introduces. Ketsu studies Sabine’s face before beaming at her. 

“You have a very intriguing facial structure. Want go get a coke and let me sketch you after you’re done with the inquisitor?” Sabine laughs as she remembers the nickname she and the rest of her siblings had given to that specialist Chopper had gone to all those years ago. Ketsu looks a little perturbed so Sabine wipes her eyes and nods. 

“Family joke that I would love to tell you over a coke,” Sabine says. Ketsu cracks a smile and goes to lean against the wall again. 

“It’s a date then,” She announces and Sabine grins. 

“Are you two finished?” Bonnie requests harshly. Ketsu nods while Sabine hides her giggles behind her hand. 

“Quite,” Ketsu confirms and winks at Sabine before Bonnie firmly closes the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why have I made Sabine Bi? Two Reasons; Firstly I am the author and I do what I want. Secondly, the way Ketsu and Sabine interacted in the show seemed like they could have been in a relationship. Also representation is cool.  
> I still haven't really answered why Bi? I was basically a coward and was hopeful that that was the one sexuality a straight girl would mess up the least.  
> Why does Chopper have a cattle prod? Because he has one in the show and I think I'm funny.  
> As with Chopper if anything is blatantly wrong please tell me and I will gladly fix it.


	5. Ezra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Ezra's turn.

Ezra is eight years old when the nightmares begin to slow down. Kanan and Hera aren’t one hundred percent sure that Ezra is actually suffering from nightmares, but since Ezra had begun staying with them on a permanent basis he had crawled out of his bed to check on them every night like clockwork. For the first few weeks it was nightly, before winding down to weekly and monthly, and Hera was hoping that Ezra’s late night visits would slow down to yearly. 

“Hey,” Kanan whispers and gently pats the bed in between the two of them. Ezra crawls up and snuggles into the blankets. Hera rolls over and smooths his hair away from his face. 

“You okay?” Hera asks, just to make sure. Ezra buries his face deeper into the pillow before nodding. Kanan and Hera share a knowing look over the top of his head. Ezra has been trying to be brave so that he could be defined as a ‘big boy’. Kanan shifts and rubs Ezra’s back soothingly. 

“Kanan?” Ezra’s cautious voice makes Kanan’s hand slow slightly. 

“Yes Ezra?” Kanan requests. 

“I want to be a Syndulla too, but I also don’t want to stop being Ezra Bridger,” Ezra explains though his voice is a little muffled because his face is still in the pillow. Hera leans over and kisses his head. 

“You could hyphenate the two if you’d like,” Hera offers and Ezra pokes his head up enough so that he can look at Hera. 

“Hyponate?” He clarifies. 

“Hyphenate,” Kanan corrects gently. “So you would be Ezra Bridger-Syndulla.” Ezra sinks back into the pillow before popping his head back up and nodding. 

“That would be nice,” He states. 

XXXXX 

Ezra is fourteen when he loses his hope after an ambitious hiker hikes down a very steep ravine and find the car with Ezra’s parents still inside at the bottom. The police say that they hadn’t found the car all those years ago because there had been a windstorm in the area and they hadn’t been able to determine that the car had gone over the barricade. 

At the news the whole atmosphere of the house changes as Ezra turns in on himself and everyone else is torn between wanting to give him space and wanting him to work out his feelings. Finally the unspoken consensus falls on leaving him alone and this goes pretty well until the day that Ezra makes Hera cry by screaming that he hates her because she won’t let him hike down to where his parents died. 

“Okay that’s it,” Zeb snaps as Hera runs for her bedroom and forcibly drags Ezra outside with Sabine and Chopper following close behind. Ezra hits him off. 

“Let go of me!” Ezra shouts and tears his arm out of Zeb’s grip. 

“How could you say something like that to Mom?!” Chopper demands and stands close to Ezra. 

“She’s not my Mom!” Ezra screams and shoves Chopper away from him as hard as he can. Chopper hits the ground and winces as his head crashes into the dirt. Zeb leans down and lifts Chopper to his feet before turning to Ezra. 

“She’s been your Mom for just as long as your birth mother was!” Zeb replies menacingly and Ezra shoves him away too. 

“It’s not the same! None of you understand! She’s not any of our moms!” Ezra cries and Sabine walks up to him and slaps him across the face as tears stream down hers. 

“NO! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!!! You don’t understand how good you’ve got it! You don’t understand what it feels like to be abandoned and unwanted!! You were with Mom and Dad from the start! 

And your birth parents wanted you. My mother left me on the front porch of a church in a thunderstorm! Chopper’s birth mother didn’t even bother to hold him when he was born! And Zeb had so many people who didn’t want him to stay that he was in twelve foster homes!” Sabine inhales a shaky breath in an attempt to slow the angry sobs that were building in her chest. Ezra’s shoulders slump as the fight goes out of him. 

“And the only reason you haven’t let Mom and Dad be your parents is because you decided to be an asshole. You’ve been here half your life! Half your life of them giving you all the love you deserve and you never gave it back because you kept hoping that your parents would turn up and take you away from us! YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE!” Sabine screams and starts crying in earnest. Ezra is looking down at the ground and Zeb wraps Sabine up in his arms. 

“I don’t remember what my parents look like,” Ezra whispers and Chopper settles a hand on Ezra’s shoulder. 

“I only really realized that I couldn’t remember after I added Syndulla to my last name. And then I guess I got scared that if they came back then I wouldn’t even know. So Kanan and Hera stayed Kanan and Hera because I was worried that if I called them Mom and Dad then I’d lose my parents for good,” Ezra explains. Zeb and Sabine lean into him as Chopper slips both arms around his neck. 

“You’re still an asshole,” Zeb mutters as the four of them group hug. 

“Yeah I know,” Ezra replies and tells Hera so when he apologizes to her a few minutes later after the four of them had all gotten control of themselves. 

“I just didn’t want you to fall getting to the car. We can go to the cemetery if you’d like,” Hera offers as she smooths his hair down. 

“Yeah. That’d be great, but only if you and Kanan come with me,” Ezra says and gives Hera a tight hug while pressing a kiss to her cheek. 

“Of course we’ll come.” 

XXXXXX 

Ezra is eighteen when he tells his family what he has decided to do with his life. He made the decision two years ago, but kept it quiet to give him a chance to weigh all the pros and cons. 

“So Ezra have you decided what you want to do after you graduate?” Qui-Gon asks at the monthly family dinner. Ezra swallows his potatoes around the lump of nerves in his throat and nods. Kanan and Hera both smile brightly at him in excitement. 

“Really?” Kanan clarifies and Ezra realizes that he might have played his cards a little too close to his chest if everyone is so happy about this news. 

“Yeah,” Ezra states. A silence falls over the table before Sabine speaks up. 

“Are you going to share or just let us stew in our curiosity?” She requests. Everyone around the table laughs and the atmosphere around the table lightens considerably. 

“I’m going to be a cop,” Ezra announces after everyone has gotten over their laughter. Kanan and Hera both abruptly set down their cutlery. 

“Did not see that one coming,” Xan mutters after a few moments of silence. Chopper chuckles half-heartedly at Xan’s comment. 

“You’re sure?” Hera asks and Ezra knows she’s only asking because she needs to know that he’s going to be putting himself in danger for a really good reason. 

“Yeah I decided during the career fair the school had two years ago,” Ezra says and Qui-Gon smiles. 

“Well as long as you have a plan. Which is more than I can say for some people,” he slides a sideways glance to Xan who throws his hands up in the air. 

“Zeb took a few years before he decided what he wanted to do,” Xan protests and Obi-Wan laughs. 

“He does have you there Dad,” Anakin points out and a round of laughter goes around the table. 

“Seriously though, I trust that you’ve thought this through, but I need to know that you are going to be very careful,” Kanan announces. Ezra ducks his head to his plate because he still sometimes gets overwhelmed by the fact that these people love him. 

“I will. I promise.” 

XXXXX 

When Ezra wakes up to a bright white room when he is twenty five, he knows he is doomed as the memories come rushing back. 

“I’m dead,” he mutters and the nurse who was leaning over him to adjust something jumps and squeaks. She glares down at him and fluffs his pillow a little harder than was probably necessary. 

“You’re not dead. You’re in the hospital,” She replies and Ezra shakes his head slightly. 

“No I mean my family is going to kill me,” Ezra corrects and he suddenly realizes that his partner, Pypey, is sitting in the chair next to his bed when he coughs. 

“Pypey what did you do?” Ezra accuses and the nurse looks between them and Ezra notices that her name tag reads Alora. 

“I may have panicked,” Pypey states. Ezra frowns at his partner’s hesitation. 

“How much?’ He requests as Alora messes with his IV and medicine drip. Pypey coughs again and rubs the back of his head. 

“Panicked enough that I phoned everyone,” Pypey admits and Ezra groans loudly, letting his head fall back into his pillow. Alora rolls her eyes and shoves the blankets down around Ezra’s knees so that she can peek at the bandages that are covering his gunshot wound. 

“I’m sure that your family is very appreciative of the fact that he called them,” Alora says diplomatically, ignoring Ezra’s hiss of protest when she prods gently at his wound. 

“You say that only because they haven’t swarmed in here yet,” Ezra snorts. As if on cue the door opens and the whole of both the Syndulla and Jinn family file into the room. Alora’s eyes widen as she backs into a corner while everyone packs in around the bed. Anakin and his wife Padme lift their twins Luke and Leia onto the bed, both of the latter grasping one of his feet in worry. Pypey launches out of his chair and offers it to eight month pregnant Satine while nine month pregnant Sarafine sits in the free chair. An awkward worried silence fills the air before Chopper breaks it when he bursts into robotic noise so disjointed with loud sobs that for the first time in Ezra’s life he can’t figure out what Chopper means. 

“I thought you were dead you stupid bastard,” Katia translates as Chopper leans into her and she runs her hand through his hair soothingly. The look in Katia’s eyes makes it clear that she shares Chopper’s sentiments. 

“You promised that you were going to be careful,” Hera states, sounding vaguely like she was on the brink of losing it. Ezra gives Alora a sideways glance, who appeared she was still stumbling a little bit. 

“Well I decided to do the noble thing and take a bullet for an innocent,” Ezra says with a sweep of his hand, hoping that they won’t make a big deal out of it. Zeb nods and grasps Ezra’s hand tightly. Kanan grasps Ezra’s other hand. 

“I’ll accept that answer,” Kanan announces wetly. Alora steps forwards. 

“I’m going to have to ask some of you to leave. Hospital policy states that only three people are allowed in at one time,” Alora presses gently and everyone gives a quick wipe of their eyes before either kissing Ezra’s head or clapping a hand to his shoulder as they leave. 

“I told you that you weren’t going to appreciate my family after they swarmed in here,” Ezra stated as Alora absently adjusted the blankets. 

“They were a little overwhelming, but I think it was wonderful that they came to see you,” Alora said. Ezra looked up at her and smiled. 

“Yeah you’re right. They are pretty wonderful aren’t they?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why so angsty when Ezra is fourteen? Because he seemed like a bit of an angsty prick to me during the first season, which is when this was written, and some of my bias slipped in.


	6. Kanan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for one last character to get that Syndulla last name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I use the F word three times in this chapter, you've been warned read at your own risk.

The news comes out as Chopper is doing his homework at breakfast. 

“Married when?” Chopper requests brightly with his pencil held at the ready. Kanan and Hera share a confused look across the kitchen island. 

“We aren’t married Chop,” Kanan announces and several things happen at once in response to his news. Chopper snaps the tip of his pencil in shock as Zeb chokes on his spoonful of cereal while Sabine uses her tea as a reverse nasal spray and Ezra drops his cup of water. 

“Ex-fucking-cuse me?” Sabine coughs. Hera frowns. 

“Language,” she chides gently and Zeb shakes his head in a slightly hysterical manner. 

“What the fuck do you mean you aren’t married?!?” Zeb requests and Hera’s glare shifts to him. 

“The circumstances under which your mother and I fell in love were very fast paced and adrenaline filled. So we weren’t sure if we could make it work in a different environment. And then we started adopting all of you and I guess getting married got set on the back burner,” Kanan explained. The kids all started at them with a hint of hysteria.” 

“How did kids not get put on the back burner first?” Ezra squeaks. 

“We’ve always been rather unconventional,” Hera states with a shrug. 

“Please do not follow our example,” Kanan joked immediately. 

XXXXX 

“What the fuck do you mean your parents aren’t married?!” Obi-wan whispers harshly as soon as he, Satine, Xan and Anakin walk into Sabine’s room. The kids are all sitting around the coffee table they’d borrowed from the living room. 

“Their marriage, and here I quote, ‘got put on the back burner’,” Ezra announces with a flourish of air quotes. 

“So while I understand the fact that this is a family emergency, why is this a family emergency?” Xan requests as he plops down next to Chopper. Sabine points to the various spreadsheets and papers they have spread over the table. 

"Because we’re planning their wedding,” Sabine states. 

“What do you need us to do?” Anakin asks and everyone nods in agreement. 

“We need Xan to go to the courthouse and book an appointment for them because he’s over eighteen,” Sabine answers and hands him a few of the dates that worked for both Kanan and Hera’s schedules. Xan looks at it before he nods. 

“Obi-wan and Zeb are in charge of renting tuxes for everyone.” Obi-wan raises his hand and waits for Sabine’s nod to speak. 

“How will we know Uncle Kanan’s size?” Ezra hands him the suit jacket and pants that he’d gotten from Kanan’s closet. 

“He wore these last month so they should fit,” Ezra says. Sabine points at Chopper and Anakin next. 

“You two are in charge of getting flowers for the bouquet and booking reservations at a restaurant for our version of a reception.” Both of the boys salute and Chopper makes a few notes on the paper in front of him. 

“Ezra’s in charge of photos,” Sabine adds and he beams. 

“They’re going to be the most awesome wedding photos of all time!” He whispers as loud as he dares. Sabine turns to Satine. 

“And I need your help making Mom’s dress,” Sabine finishes and hands Satine a rough sketch that she’d drawn up. 

“Simple yet elegant. Perfect for your mom,” Satine says. 

“What the Hell do you mean you aren’t married?!” Qui-Gon’s shout of disbelief echoes throughout the house and breaks the serious air in the room as everyone bursts out laughing. 

XXXXXX 

The preparations manage to go off without too many problems arising and the group of them even manage to bring Qui-Gon in on the secret without alerting Kanan or Hera. Everyone does agree that the night before the big event is the most stressful as everyone attempts to get everything organized. 

“Dad, do you want to come play a game of baseball with us?” Ezra requests on the morning of the big day. Kanan groans from where he and Hera are still lying in bed. Usually on mutual days off the kids leave them alone and handle themselves. 

“Do you need me?” Kanan asks, because no matter how much he loves his kids his bed is comfortable. 

“Yeah because Uncle Qui-Gon wants to play so we need to you even it out,” Ezra answers. Kanan rolls onto his side and kisses Hera’s cheek before he climbs out of bed. Sabine appears at the side of the bed a few moments later. 

“Can you be my model for a home economics project?” Sabine asks and Hera sighs before rubbing her face on her pillow and nodding. 

“Thanks Mom. You’re the best,” Sabine states. As soon as Hera slides out of bed Sabine moves forward with a blindfold. Hera frowns at her in question. 

“I just want you to experience it fully,” Sabine explains. Hera sighs, but gives Sabine a smile. 

“Alright then.” 

XXXXXX 

While Sabine and Satine have a rather easy time of getting Hera into her dress and into the car so that they can go to the courthouse, the boys quickly realize that getting Kanan into his tux is going to be a rather large endeavour. 

“What’s the plan Xan?” Anakin asks as soon as Kanan jumps in the shower after the baseball game. Xan gives everyone a wide eyed look. 

“Why do I have to come up with a plan?” Xan demands. 

“Because it rhymes. Xan the man with the plan,” Obi-Wan answers immediately and everyone breaks out into giggles as Xan takes a swipe at Obi-Wan. 

“Emergency funeral?” Anakin suggests before shaking his head. “Never mind. That’s a stupid idea.” Zeb ruffles Anakin’s hair soothingly. 

“It’s not that stupid,” Zeb replies while Obi-Wan taps his chin in thought before snapping his fingers. 

“Ezra needs a subject for his photography class,” he offers. Ezra shakes his head slightly. 

“Kanan knows I haven’t got any projects due for like a month,” Ezra replies and Chopper beeps at him. 

“Rude! I work ahead!” Ezra protests and nudges Chopper who beeps back at him in reply. 

“I agree with Chopper, you are the king of procrastination,” Zeb states. The boys all fall silent as they try to think up reasonable excuses to get Kanan into his tux without actually telling him about it. 

“Let’s just manhandle him into it,” Anakin says a few moments later when it becomes clear that they have no ideas. 

When Kanan steps out of the bathroom all the boys leap into action as Zeb wraps a blindfold over Kanan’s eyes from behind him. Anakin and Chopper handle getting Kanan into his pants while Xan, Obi-Wan and Ezra tag team the dress shirt and jacket. 

“What the Hell!?” Kanan cries shortly after the boys have set upon him. 

“Shut up and humour us. I guarantee you will forgive us later,” Zeb mutters as he finishes with the blindfold and starts combing Kanan’s hair into his signature ponytail. 

XXXXXX 

The two parties make it to the courthouse with twenty five minutes to spare and all the kids pile out of the cars with relief. 

“Thank god we did it. I never want to do something like this ever again,” Sabine mutters while smoothing out Anakin’s jacket. Xan shrugs from where he’s fixing Chopper’s tie. 

“I don’t know, it was kind of fun,” Xan states and Zeb pauses wrestling with his cufflinks to raise an eyebrow up at him. 

“Didn’t peg you for the wedding planner sort,” Zeb announces as Kanan rolls down the window. 

“Can I get out of the car yet?” He shouts in their general direction as he still has the blindfold on. Ezra sticks up a finger and readies his camera so that he can capture their reactions. Sabine and Obi-Wan carefully lead Kanan and Hera out of the car without messing up their outfits. 

“Sabine what is going on?” Hera asks as Satine pins a veil onto Hera quickly. Kanan twists his head towards her. 

“Hera?” 

“Kanan?” 

“Okay what kind of karabast are you guys cooking up?” Kanan demands and Qui-Gon smiles gently as the kids pull of their blindfolds. 

“They planned your wedding,” Qui-Gon explains and Ezra perfectly captures the moment where Kanan and Hera see each other and gasp simultaneously. They turn to the kids and Anakin slips the bouquet he and Chopper had picked out into Hera’s hands. 

“You-” Hera pauses as the emotions well up in her throat. 

“Righted a universal wrong,” Zeb offers as the rest of the children beam at the two. Qui-Gon smiles and presses a tissue into Kanan’s hand before checking his watch. 

“Now try not to cry just yet. After all you’ve got an appointment with a justice of the peace in ten minutes and we’ve got photos to take after that,” Qui-Gon teases gently, making Kanan laugh wetly while he offers his arm to Hera. 

“I love you all so very much,” Hera says as they walk up the courthouse steps. 

“We know,” Sabine states as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and all the kids nod in agreement. 

It’s a very short ceremony, but there isn’t a single dry eye in the family when Kanan Jarrus finally changes his last name to Syndulla. 

XXXXX 

They use Kanan and Hera’s favourite photo from the wedding for their Christmas cards that year. Ezra had originally wanted to delete it because it’s a candid photo from when they’d been trying to get a family picture of all of them with the timer setting and Xan had made a joke two seconds before the timer went off. The result is a photo of all of the Syndulla/Jinn clan sitting artistically on a picnic bench in the park laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anybody cares/is paying attention everyone's ages when this happens are:  
> Xan- 21  
> Zeb/Obi-wan -18  
> Sabine-15  
> Ezra-14  
> Chopper-11  
> Anakin-10


	7. Epilogue

Chopper and Katia attend college together and get married when they are twenty two, almost the instant the ink dries on their respective computer science and linguistics/child psychology degree. They adopt four children by the time they are twenty seven and are twenty eight when their only biological child is born. Katia quickly becomes the go to psychologist for children who are having difficulty communicating because, as she always says with a wink to her husband, she’s had a lot of practice with strange communication methods. 

Zeb and Sarafine reaffirm their vows after Zeb’s first tour is done to make it up to Kanan and Hera when they are twenty six. Zeb does two more tours running aid missions with the army before he retires from overseas missions after Sarafine announces that she is pregnant with their first child. They adopt two more children before they turn thirty and together they start a home for homeless war veterans that offer them access to food, shelter and a little bit of psychological help from Sabine, Ketsu and Satine. 

Sabine and Ketsu date on and off until they have a very bad breakup when they are twenty five because they can’t agree on foster children. Ketsu is perfectly happy helping them out at work, but she wants to separate home and work. Sabine disagrees and adopts two children a year after the two of them break up. A year after that Sabine starts fostering as many kids as she was allowed and keep up with all the ones who’ve left her. Kanan later accuses her of amassing an army of foster kids for the explicit purpose of having two teams in the annual Syndulla baseball tournament. 

Ezra asks Alora, the nurse he meets in the hospital, out on a date because she’s already seen him at his worst. They get married three years later on a whim when they go to Las Vegas for a vacation. Kanan face palms and demands to know how both of his sons ended up without a single ounce of self-preservation as Hera gives them her infamous eyebrow raise when they tell everyone. The two of them have twins almost exactly nine months later and adopt two other children before their third wedding anniversary. 

Even though all the kids and grandkids are constantly coming in and out of the house, Hera and Kanan both can’t stand the quiet and they both grieve for the pitter patter of little feet in their now too big house. So the two of them do the only thing that makes sense and adopt one more child. Dawn Syndulla enters their hearts and home when she is eighteen months old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that wraps up everything to everyone's satisfaction.  
> But if anyone does have any other questions feel free and ask!

**Author's Note:**

> I changed Zeb's name to Zebidiah because I thought it sounded more plausible as a human name than Garazeb.


End file.
